


TCE: Setting #2

by Etienne_Bessette



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Captured, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Humor, In which the Master secretly loves cats, The Doctor is absolutely going to use this against the Master later, The Master is dignified in spite of it all, The Master's plan has backfired again, Tissue Compression Eliminator, escape plan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-30
Updated: 2014-09-30
Packaged: 2018-02-19 08:09:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2381039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etienne_Bessette/pseuds/Etienne_Bessette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written a couple of years ago on a whim for an LJ friend in response to a comment that went something like this: <i>'what if the Master secretly loved cats and made a second setting for his TCE that was basically just 'cat toy'.'</i></p>
<p>Jo and the Doctor have upset the Master's plans once again, landing the three of them in an alien dungeon. Fortunately, there's a cat nearby.</p>
            </blockquote>





	TCE: Setting #2

“I don’t think he likes you,” Jo observes.

“No,” the Doctor agrees sourly. “I don’t see _why_ it’s taken such a set against us. Ridiculous, fickle creature.”

“Not _us_ ,” the Master corrects lightly. “Just _you_ , Doctor.”

The Doctor glares at him. “Oh really now? I don’t see the cat rubbing up against the bars on _your_ side of the cell, now do I? And anyway, this is all entirely your fault, so you hardly have room to talk.”

The Master thinks that a tad bit unfair. If the Doctor hadn’t stuck his overly large nose into the Master’s plans at the worst possible moment and tried to turn the Master’s new allies, the Celiphs, against him—as per his usual—then the Celiphs wouldn’t have locked them all up in their dungeons with plans to execute them within the hour. “If you hadn’t opened your big mouth, none of us would be in this mess. And what good will befriending that cat do us, in any case?”

The Doctor huffs. “It could help us escape. It must know where the keys are, and where the guards are stationed.”

Jo blinks. “The _cat_? Doctor, you can’t be serious!”

“I’m quite serious, Jo.”

“But…but cats _can’t talk!_ ” Jo protests. The corners of her mouth twist upwards as though she’s trying not to laugh.

“Of course they can!” the Doctor says. “They have minds just as you have. I can communicate with them telepathically.”

“What, like a Vulcan Mind Meld?”

The Doctor stares at her. 

Jo spreads her hands and shakes her head. “Sorry, Doctor! But it is all a bit surpris—oh _no_! Stop that!” Jo’s gaze had drifted over towards the Master just in time to see him holding what looks like a miniaturized version of his Tissue Compression Eliminator…and pointing it directly at the cat outside the cell bars.

The Doctor’s eyes widen and his jaw clenches in tight fury. “Don’t you _dare_. Even for _you_ , that’s low. That poor innocent creature!”

The Master doesn’t lower his TCE, but turns his head calmly to look at the Doctor and Jo with a raised eyebrow. “You wound me, Doctor. As it so happens, I’m not planning any harm. I’m actually trying to help.”

“By _killing_ that cat?!”

The Master’s mouth thins and he looks back towards his target. Before the Doctor or Jo can move to stop him, he presses a switch, and the TCE glows with light. Jo gasps in horror and covers her mouth.

Nothing happens to the cat.

Jo blinks. “What…?”

The Doctor notices it first, following the quick, small motions of the Master’s hand and seeing odd, mesmerizing circles of light scatter across the floor. The cat’s attention is instantly snared. Its fluid, lazy lines sharpen and freeze instantly. Eyes wide and the tip of its tail flicking, the cat watches the lights, muscles bunching, until suddenly it explodes into a flurry of furious motion. The Master keeps the light circles barely ahead of the cat solely thanks to his Time Lord reflexes. Blurs of black fur twist and fold and spring into the air and—finally—arrive in a panting heap at by the bars near the Master. The Master reaches his fingers out, allows the cat to sniff them, and then begins to scratch behind its ears.

The Doctor and Jo stare at him. After several moments, the Doctor asks, slowly as though he _can’t_ believe what he’s saying, “My dear chap, is that a _cat toy?_ ”

The Master turns his head to glare at the Doctor. “Certainly _not_.” Pause. “That’s only its secondary setting. Its primary function is as deadly as ever, I assure you.”

Jo’s shoulders start to shake, and she covers her mouth with one hand. Her smile is still visible around the sides of her palm. The Master scowls at her.

The Doctor does a bit better job at hiding his mirth, but not by much. “Do you…have a cat in your TARDIS?”

“Yes, yes, very amusing, I’m sure,” the Master snaps irritably. “Aren’t you wasting time, Doctor? You wanted to talk to the cat. Well, here it is. Do get on with it.”

The Master crosses his arms and subtly eavesdrops while the Doctor converses with the cat. He ignores Jo’s pointed, curious glances, and instead thinks about how, really, being thrown in jail hasn't been a _total_ waste. At least now he knows that his TCE Mark 2 prototype is working quite well indeed.

Purrgemrothdarlyeenwor will be most pleased.


End file.
